I Grew Up Around Boys
by Xtreme619
Summary: What would happen if the Curtis brothers had a sister? A 14 year old sister who gets into as much trouble as Ponyboy. Read and find out! R&R, please! FINISHED! AND IS NOW EDITED! MUUUCH BETTER NOW! PLEASE RE-READ OR READ AND REVIEW! PLEASE! THANK YOU!
1. Disclaimer

I do NOT own any of the characters (except Danie) and I make no profit off of this. This is a FanFiction, and is treated as such. Everything belongs to S.E. Hinton. Thank you.


	2. My Life

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

I. My Life

My name's Danielle Carnelian Curtis. I'm not your average Greaser, especially not your average Greaser chick. I'm the youngest sister to Darry (Darrel, if I'm mad at him), Sodapop, and Ponyboy Curtis. I'm what people call a freak. I'm accustomed to insults, though. I don't react to them like most girls at the age of fourteen would react; I just say politely "thank you" and walk away. Soda says that this annoys them so they try to come up with other insults to call me, but they still don't get to me. I'm also very artistic. You should see my room if you don't believe me. My friends are always telling me to sell my drawings and that I could make a lot of money off them – the drawings, not my friends -, but I don't care, my drawings are for me, and me alone.

Ok, where was I? Oh yes, ok, my room, well, it has all these drawings from the time I was 4 to now, I'm running out of room on my walls! I have three pictures of my parents, three of Darry, three of Soda, and three of Pony, I also have one picture where all of us, my parents included, are posing for a picture, and it's so cute, I drew it only 4 weeks ago, right after our mom and dad died…

The picture looks like this; our mom is on the far left with her right hand on her hip, her left over my shoulder and is smiling her ever-famous smile. Next is, well, me, yeah, that would have been obvious, with the way I just described my mom, but the position I'm standing in, well, I have my right arm around my mom's waist, and my left's on Pony's right shoulder, like he's my armrest (I'm a bit tall and big for my age, and big as in my build, not fat). And, of course, I'm smiling! Then there's Pony, he's using my left shoulder as **his** armrest, and his left thumb's in is belt loop. And I don't think I have to tell you that he's smiling! Next would be Sodapop, well, I don't know how to describe him; he's his normal, happy self! He's laughing, like usual, and his left hand is in his pant's pocket, and his right's on his hip. Darry's right by our dad, and he's looking at Soda like Soda's lost his mind, but, of course, smiling, and both of his hands are in his pockets. Then there's my dad! He's smiling, looking at all of us, and is turned so you can only see his silhouette.

Pony and Soda agree that it's definitely how all of us will remember Mom and Dad, and Darry took one look at the picture and broke down crying. I know why too, he misses Mom and Dad more then any of us, now he has to raise three siblings, and with no help from anyone. And since he's a guy, well, all of the girls can just see where that's headed. I still have to say that I cry when I see the picture when I wake up every morning, and I'm not afraid of admitting that, either.

I grew up around seven guys, ok? That's not fun! The gang is made up of Darry (the un-official leader), Soda, Pony (they put up with him, 'cause he's Soda's brother), Two-Bit, Dally (or Dallas, whatever I feel like calling him), Steve, Johnny, and me. The only put up with me because Darry said that if they didn't, I'd end up being a Soc, so they did everything in their powers to keep me from that fate, and well, it's working in on sense that the Socs will never let me join, and it's not working in another because I'm still a girl! I'll always be a girl! And I'm ok with that (even thought the guy's aren't). Since I grew up with seven boys, I'm a major tomboy at times, but I still love to draw hearts, and I still love to act like a girl. Pony and Johnny are the ones that I hang with the most, they are quiet, and don't care that I'm a girl; they treat me like I'm just human. They don't treat me any different then what they would treat the guys. (Oh, yeah… should I mention that I'm also dating Johnny?)

I guess I should describe myself. Well, like I said, I'm big and tall for my age (think dancer who could almost – **almost **– be a basketball player). I have dark hair that flows down to my waste (the guys just can't except that, because – according to them – "you need to be able to defend yourself, and you will never be able to with hair that long!), with bright blue eyes. Also, my hair is **never** out of place – in other words, my hair is perfect, and it will **stay** perfect! I have tan skinned because I'm always outside, and now I have a permanent suntan (Soda's jealous of me for that).

I'm the baby of the family, so I always get what I ask for, but that's not much, see, I can live with all of the hand-me-downs, as long as I have something to change them with – I **always** color on my clothes to make them reflect my personality. So the only thing I really ever ask for is more art supplies to make sure that I never run out. So Darry, Soda, Pony, and I always keep a little stash of money so I can get the supplies that I need when I need them. I told Darry he didn't have to do that, after mom and dad died, but he insisted, so I didn't argue for fear of making him mad; he's scary when he's mad! No wonder no one likes to fight him when he's in a rumble…

I'm always watching out for everyone, making sure they don't get hurt or anything (I take this free Red Cross class at our local hospital), even thought I am a few years younger than them. Whenever Darry comes home and is clutching his shoulder because he pulled a muscle, I'm always the one who takes care of him. And then makes dinner, because Ponyboy and Sodapop will always burn it! I swear if they don't get married, they will burn their house down if they try to cook anything!

Pony tells me that I'm a miniature version of our mother, and once, when he was still half asleep, he called me "Mom," and I laughed at him – of course! He felt so bad after that, in fact, that never mumbled the word around me again! And then there's Soda and Darry who think that I AM our mother! In another form, of course! After all, I'm only fourteen! Well, ok, that's all about me.

Oh! Wait, hold on, I forgot one thing, about five months ago, I busted up my right knee trying to help Darry out at his work, and six weeks ago, I sprained my left ankle wrestling with Steve, and about four weeks ago, I broke my left wrist – I really don't know how I managed that one… But in other words, I'm a klutz! Ok, on with the story!


	3. Soc Encounter

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

II. Soc Encounter

I was working on my latest picture (a rose with a sword going through it and a serpent winding up the sword and about to bite off the flower – oh yeah, I'm cool), when the final bell rang for school. School was out for the summer! I walked to my locker to get my crap, and go home. After I got everything out of my locker, I decided to take a short cut to the car were Soda was most likely waiting for me. The short cut that I used, I walked right through the Soc's lockers! One thing I will never do again! I was walking along just fine, thinking that since it was the last day of school, and I wouldn't see them again for three months, I would be fine. I suddenly felt someone grab my upper arm, and turn me around. I was face-to-face with a Soc, and he looked mad.

"Well, well, well. Whom do we have here?" he asked.

"Danie," I replied, trying to hide my fear. You see, I did grow up with seven boys, but they were always there to protect me, and I didn't like to fight, because I didn't like to see others in pain, plus I was very scared of this guy; he was tall, and muscular, (most likely a jock, he looked like he played football), so I was dead afraid!

"Well, Danie, this is the SOC'S territory! And you're walking on it. Do you know what we do to Greasers who cross our territory?" he questioned me.

"N-no" I shook my head.

"Well, then, I'll show you!" he raised his right arm as if to punch me. I tried to get out of his grip, but he just tightened it. I flinched waiting for the strike, when I suddenly fell to the floor, my left eye throbbing, and I heard footsteps running the opposite direction. I felt a gentle hand help me up. Both of my eyes were shut because the pain was so bad, and my right hand was covering my left eye.

"Come on; let me look at that eye of yours." I heard Sodapop say comfortingly. He tried to move my hand, but I wouldn't let him, I just couldn't stop holding on to my eye for all that I was worth! "Come on, now. Let me see it!" he pleaded, if possible, a little softer.

I shook my head "no" and he just led me back to the car. The ride home was silent and I could feel Soda's eyes on me whenever we stopped. I didn't care; I knew that he was only worried for my safety. And he had good reason too; after all, I AM his baby sister!

"You know, he had no reason to punch you, a locker's a locker, not anyone's property, and definitely not a reason to punch anyone!" Soda all of a sudden said, anger ringing in his voice.

"Wha… Oh, yeah, that's … right I guess" I was still a little shocked, and I wanted to cry, it hurt so badly, but I didn't. I was stronger than that. Soda must have noticed that, because when he pulled up to our house, he opened my door and held out his arms as if waiting for a hug. I jumped into his arms and cried for about 5 minutes while Soda rubbed my back and tried to calm me down. When I was done crying, Soda pulled me away, looked me in the right eye (I couldn't even open my left) and said:

"Are you ok now?"

"MmmHmm" I said looking at the cement. Soda lifted my chin so I would look him straight in the eyes

"That eye of yours is pretty bad; we should get Darry to have a look at it, ok?"

"I'd rather not tell anyone how I got it; they'd think I was an idiot!" I protested

"No, they won't, and you need to tell someone, or it will get infected, and we don't need that, after all, mom and dad just died!" he tried to get his point across, but all he got was more tears from me. "Oh man, what did I do?" he asked himself, rolling his eyes at himself. He pulled me into his arms again, and kept saying that they are in a better place now, and that they wouldn't want me to cry for them, but I couldn't help it, I'm only 14! I can't deal with this! I don't need to find out that my parents are dead, and all I have left are my three brothers who don't know what goes through a girl's mind! I needed to talk to a girl; I couldn't just cry my eyes out on Soda, Pony, or Darry's shoulder every time someone mentions Mom or Dad!

"Soda, I need to talk to a girl," I sobbed.

"I know, baby girl, I know," he comforted me. Just then, Dally walked up.

"What the hell are you doing to Danie, Soda?!" he practically screamed. I looked over at him, and I swear, if this is at all possible, Dally looked like he just saw a ghost! "Oh my God!" he whispered. I just then realized that I had a black eye (again).

"Dally, it's not what you think…" Soda tried to explain, but the next thing I knew, Dally was about to punch Soda, (I only found out later that Dally thought he was beating me), and Dally didn't want anyone to beat any of us. He even offered to take care of Johnny's parents so that they would never hurt him again, but luckily, I stopped him because I didn't want Dally to get into trouble again.

I couldn't take Soda and Dally fighting, and I was dizzy, and out of breath from crying and yelling so much, and I felt light headed, and I had a headache; I fainted.

The next thing I knew, I was lying on my bed, and Soda, Pony, Darry, and Dally where hovering over me. Soda was as white as a ghost, Darry looked super-mad, Pony was about to jump up and hug the livin' daylights outta me (oh gosh, thank goodness he didn't), and Dally looked guilty (Is that possible?).

"What happened?" I asked trying to get out of bed, but Darry pushed me down.

"Did Soda hit you?" Darry asked me seriously.

"No," I replied confused. "Soda, Pony, what's going on here? Why are you so mad, Darry? And, Dally, why do you look like you just committed murder?" I asked in one breath.

"Dally claims he saw Soda was beatin' you, and Darry got mad when he heard that, Soda hasn't said a word, and Darry saw you pass out." Pony started to answer my questions. "Soda looked so afraid, and you know how bad of a liar Soda is, Dan, Darry carried you in, and Soda was about to tell us all something, then changed his mind, and now Dal…" Dally stopped Pony there and said,

"Now… I think I was wrong, and that's why… I almost hit your brother…" his voice trailed off, he looked over to Soda, who, in return, scooted away form him. Dally looked back down to the floor. I have never seen Dallas Winston look guilty, and I have NEVER thought that I would see the day that he would regret anything - ok, show the regret in his face.

Again, I tried to get up, but this time, Pony didn't let me, "What happened to your eye, before we jump to another conclusion?" He asked.

"I … umm … I walked by the … umm … Soc's lockers? … and one of them … he hit me, well, punched me … and Soda came to my rescue …" I said. "It wasn't his fault! I shouldn't have gone by their lockers in the first place, it was my brilliant idea. He chased the Soc away, and took me home, then …" Darry nodded to say that he understood, and stood up.

"Ok, now that we have the facts, I'm going to go make dinner." Darry said. This I wouldn't stand – ok, LIE – for. I got up, walked over to Darry, looked him straight in the eye and said.

"No, you just worked all day, I'm fine, and you might burn the house down! I'll make dinner!" I told my brother off.

"I will not burn the house down!" he acted like he was insulted, but I knew he was just messin' with me.

"Oh, yes, you will! I've seen the way you cook! I'LL cook dinner, got it?" I said as if I was our mother.

"Yes, ma'am!" Darry said while saluting me. We all laughed while Dally looked confused (that's new). I loved that Darry could make me laugh, even though, half the time he didn't know what he did!


	4. Nightmare

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

III Nightmares

I walked into the kitchen to make dinner. After we all ate, I went to go to bed. I wanted to be alone. Darry looked up from doing the dishes and watched me leave.

"Danie," he started. I turned around. "Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" I asked him.

"Because, you look like you're about to be sick." He told me.

"I do?" I questioned.

"Yesh" Soda said with his mouth full of chocolate cake, like usual.

"Oh, ok? Well, I'm fine, really." I said.

"You sure?" Darry asked. I nodded. "OK, go get some sleep, you hear?"

"Yeah, ok, I will." And I walked out of the kitchen.

I walked into my room, plopped down on my bed and fell asleep. That night I had a nightmare for the first time since mom and dad died.

**NIGHTMARE**

I'm walking down a street, everything's dark, and I start to hear voices. I look around, trying to figure out where the voices were coming from. All of a sudden, I see my parents coming out of a building, screaming.

"Run, Danielle! RUN!" screamed my father. I tried to run, but I couldn't, it was like I was glued to the floor!

"Car! What are you doing? RUN!" my mother screamed at me, using the only nickname that she ever had for me.

I tried to scream out to them, but I didn't have my voice! Then, something came up behind my parents and "stomped" down on them.

Everything went a bright white, and then I started hearing Darry and Soda's voices.

"NO!" Darry screamed.

"Danie…!" sobbed Soda.

The next thing I saw was that I was lying on the floor, blood flowing freely form my abdomen, head, and throat.

"You can't leave us, Dan!" Darry called, "You can't!" he broke down bawling.

"Danie…" Soda wept. "Danie."

"I'm right here!" I screamed, but they didn't hear me.

The next thing I'm aware of, I was standing over a dead Darry, Soda, and Pony.

I couldn't take it; I screamed.

**END**

"NO!" I screamed and sat up like a bullet. Darry, Soda, and Pony were standing over me looking worried.

"Danie, what's wrong?" asked Pony.

"How long have y'all been in here?" I asked.

"You've been screaming for half an hour," Soda explained. "We've been trying to wake you up, but we couldn't, you just kept screamin' for mom."

"It looked like you were having a seizure!" Darry looked so freaked out!

"What was it?" asked Pony quiety.

"Huh?" I asked.

"What was it?" he asked again, "What was your dream?"

"Oh, well, um…" I didn't know if I wanted to tell them, "What time is it?" I was desperate to change the subject.

"It's 3:40 in the morning," Darry answered, "Now, back to the subject at hand."

I shook my head to try to tell them I didn't want to talk, but they are too persistent!

"Come on, now, you know you need to talk about this!" Soda said.

"No, I don't! I just wanna go to bed. Please!" I pleaded with them.

"Ok, but, just - you're gonna havta tell us sooner or later. Come on, Pony, Soda, go back to bed." Darry said.

Darry ushered them out. Then sat back down on the bed next to me.

"Please, babe, please tell me what's going on, I know you've been having a rough time with this, but that's no reason to start shutting out the people you love. You know that." Darry said in a comforting/soothing voice he only uses when I'm thinking about mom and dad.

"It's… hard to explain, Darry, I can't think of how to explain it." I told him.

"Try, that's all I'm asking, is for you to try."

"Ok, well, the dream… I dunno, I was walking on a street, when I saw mom and dad running, and yellin' at me to run, too, but I didn't – couldn't. I just… stood there, and then I saw then die…" by this time, I was crying. Darry held me close and rocked me back and forth like Mom did when I was hurt.

"Is that all?" he asked me.

"No, there's more," I told him. "After that, I saw myself lying on the ground, bleeding, and I was dead. You and Soda were there and you were crying, like, like when mom and dad… died." I whispered the last word. Darry tightened his grip and stopped rocking me, "Then, then I saw you, Soda, and Pony, and you were all dead, and that's when I woke up. I don't want to go back to sleep! I don't want to, Darry! I don't wanna see that again! That was to much for me!" I sobbed. Darry, by then, was crying, too.

"I know, Car, I know," he used the nickname… the nickname.

"NO!" I screamed and pushed Darry off me. I scared Darry, and freaked out my other brothers (I wonder why…).

Soda and Pony came running in to find me bawling, and Darry confused. I felt like I could faint at any moment, umm, again.

"Danie, what happened?" Pony asked, worried.

"Nothing," I said shoving past them, and then ran. I ran to where my parents are buried. I didn't care that it was freezing, and that I was only in my pajamas. I needed to see Mom and Dad!

When I got there, I fell to my knees and cried. It was dawn before my brothers found me shivering, by our parents' graves, crying.


	5. Confessions

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

IV Confessions

"Danielle Carnelian Curtis!" screamed Ponyboy. I turned around to find the whole gang running up to me.

"Oh my God! You're ok! Thank God!" cried Darry.

Darry picked me up in his arms, and turned to Soda and Two-bit who where carrying blankets. They bundled me up, and took me home.

When we got home, they put me on my bed and hovered over me. I knew they were waiting for an explanation. And that's what I gave them.

"He," I pointed to Darry, and everyone looked accusingly at him, "used the nickname mom used in my dream, right before…" my voice trailed off. Darry must have told them, because no one looked confused.

Johnny walked over to me from were he was standing in the corner of my room and squeezed pass everyone. When he got to my bed, he locked me in a bear hug.

"It'll be ok," he whispered in my ear.

"I know, but it seems like it won't!" I replied.

"I know, I know," was all he said before pulling away.

Johnny's always making sure that I know that he cares, because he's afraid that he's being like his parents. I know that he'll never be like them; he's too sweet to hurt anyone.

"Guys, can I talk to Johnny alone for a while?" I asked. Darry looked like he was about to protest saying that I was 'just too tired right now,' but I made him leave by doing the only thing I could think of, "Darrel Curtis, I'm fine. Please leave Johnny and me to talk!" Everyone was looking from me to Darry, and back to me. Finally, Darry decided it was best not to argue with me, and left, followed by the gang.

I tried to stand up, but Johnny wouldn't let me.

"Johnnycake?" I said.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Um, I have to tell you something… something important."

"Ok? What?" he asked patiently.

"I …" I tried to find the words, but they wouldn't come.

Johnny knew that I was struggling, so he sat down next to me, and started to rub my back.

"It's ok, take as long as you need. I'm not going anywhere, I promise. It's ok." He said. Usually, it's good if you can get two short sentences out of the guy, even if you ARE dating him. I was shocked.

"I, um, I can… um…" it was unusual for me to struggle like this. "I can… I saw my parents when I ran out to their grave. I mean; I really saw them! Like, like they came back! They told me to be strong, and that I would get through all this. They told me that I didn't have to act like I was our mother, that I already am her, that she's present in me." I looked up at Johnny, who, surprisingly, looked like he understood.

He nodded, "Yea, I know what ya mean." He answered my unspoken question. "And you should listen to them. They're right. You are your mother, and you need to be strong. You ARE strong. I love you, Khandi." He used the only nickname I'll let him use. You see, my family calls me Car, like I said, because of my middle name, and then Johnny started to use it. I'd tell him not to, so somehow Danie and Car Curtis got changed to Candy (let's just say Soda was having problems talking one night), and I changed the spelling, so there you go. My new nickname was officially "Khandi".

I looked deep into his eye, "I love you too, Johnnycake!" I said, with teers in my eyes. He wiped them away and kissed me, lightly at first, then I deepened the kiss.

After a while, he broke away reluctantly, and slowly. "Are you ok now?" he asked me. I nodded a "yes" and he got up and told me to "get some shut eye, or you brothers will never let you cook dinner again." I laughed, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. I couldn't close my eyes, because every time I did, I saw them again.


	6. Wake Up

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

V. Wake Up

The morning passed, and I prayed that everyone would think that I was sleeping. I really wasn't, though. I was awake, waiting for noon, so I could go downstairs to get something to eat. I hadn't gotten any sleep sense 3:40, and even then, I knew that I hadn't gotten much sleep, what with that nightmare and all.

12noon passed, and I walked downstairs to the kitchen. From what I saw, the whole gang was still there. Everyone looked up when they heard me walk in.

"Hey, Ca… Babe," Darry said. He corrected himself when he saw my eye dart to him. "Want some lunch?"

"Yes, please, I'm starving," I said in a tired voice. It wasn't fake at all, I was tired, and I was starving!

"Is pizza ok?" asked Two-Bit, holding up a few slices of pizza.

"19-19-1985!" Steve sang as loud as he could. "STOP! Bring back Springsteen, Madonna Way before Nirvana There was U2 and Blondie And music still on MTV her two kids, in high school, they tell her that she's un-cool, cause she's still preoccupied, with 1985!"

Everyone stared at Steve blankly before Pony spoke up. "Steve, it's only 1966, and I have no clue who Springsteen, Madonna, or Nirvana are, and who's U2? And there is no such thing as MTV."

"I know, it just… came to mind, that's all" Steve said in his defense.

I giggled, it's fun to watch the boys argue. All of a sudden, we all heard a gun shot coming from the direction of Johnny's house. "O MY GOD! JOHNNY!" I screamed as I ran towards the front door.


	7. Johnny

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

VI. Johnny

Johnny came running through our door just as I got there, gripping his chest and trying not to cry.

"Johnny! What happened?" I asked as I pulled him close to me.

"I got into a little trouble with the old man, it's nothing." He flinched; it wasn't that convincing.

"It sure didn't sound like nothin'" Two-Bit commented.

I sat down next to Johnny on the couch and tried to pry his hand away from his chest – it was bleeding profusely.

"Johnny," I gasped, accepting what I didn't want to accept. Everyone knew what was coming, "Johnny… he didn't…"

"Why the hell did he shoot you!?" asked Dally.

"It's nothing…" replied Johnny.

"It ain't nothing; you need to have this taken care of!" I was so mad; I was on the brink of tears. I hated to see people in pain, especially people close to me.

"Can't you?" he eyes were pleading.

I shook my head, "Johnny, you've been shot! I can't take care of a gunshot wound!"

Johnny looked defeated.

"No," Darry said. "He can't. No one here has enough money to pay for it," I looked up at him.

"Are you insane, Darry?! He has too! He's been SHOT! Who gives a rat's ass if we don't have enough money! He needs a doctor and a hospital!" I yelled at my oldest brother.

"Danie…"

"No, Johnny! You need a hospital. None of you argue with me!"

"Ok…" Darry stood up and walked out the door, "Guys, get Johnny in the truck, we're taking him to the hospital…" I won – again.

Five torturous hours later, Johnny was walking out of the hospital. All he ended up having was stitches and an emergency blood transplant. His father was so drunk he aimed at the wrong side of the chest, so Johnny was good. I clung to him the entire ride home and stayed close to him the rest of the night.


	8. Coke

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

VII. Coke

"I'm sorry…" I whispered as I hugged him close.

"It's ok, it's ok, you had no other choice," He tried to comfort me.

I knew the gang's eyes were on him. I didn't blame them. What sane person wouldn't stare at a guy who just got shot and wasn't mad at the world or in so much pain he couldn't walk? Something about the situation made it funny, though. I don't know why, but something about Johnny getting shot was funny to me. I couldn't hold back my laughter in, and just started laughing out loud.

"What are you laughing about?" asked Dally.

"Something" I answered innocently, still laughing. Johnny held me at arm's length away, confused.

"You're starting to scare us, you know that?" Pony asked.

"Well, that's my job – I'm a girl, remember? I'm supposed to scare guys." I commented.

"And thank God, otherwise I'd be worried for Johnny's sake!" Two-bit smirked.

"Oh, shut up, Two-bit!" Johnny shot back, smiling. Making sure Johnny was ok; I got up and walked into the kitchen to get a coke for the both of us.

As I reached for the two coke bottles I heard Steve behind me, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Why not?" I asked as I grabbed the bottles

"'Cause," he said dryly, "it's spiked."

"WHAT?!" I everything but screamed.

"It's spiked." He repeated.

"Why?"

"'Cause, it's meant for Darry," he shrugged again.

"You're an idiot!" I screamed.

"Why am I an idiot?" he smirked.

"What are you two screamin' about?" Darry walked in.

"Want some coke?" Steve grabbed the coke from my hand and held it out to Darry before I could grab it back.

"No" I answered for Darry.

"Danie?" Darry looked at me.

"It's spiked!" I told him the reason behind my madness.

"Steve, I swear, you get stranger and stranger every day!" Darry remarked, shaking his head. He took the coke out of Steve's hand and dumped it.

"HA!" I pointed at Steve, "Told ya he would never drink it!"

"No you didn't" Steve said.

"I didn't?" I could have sworn that I did. "But, I, Wha… I SWEAR! I did!"

"Hmph, No you didn't, but knowing you, you meant to." He said, then messed up my hair and walked into the living room.

"1…2…3…" I tried to calm down, but NO ONE, I repeat, NO ONE touches my hair! Darry backed away, knowing what I was going to do.

I ran into the living room, grabbed the nearest pillow, and smacked Steve square in the face. He was stunned speechless. Darry walked in, snickering.

"Guess I should have warned ya, Steve." He laughed.

"What'd he do?" Two-bit asked, anxiously.

"He messed up my hair!"

"You had that comin', Steve, she hates that!" Soda said.

"Well how the hell was I supposed to know?" he questioned in his defense, "no one told me!"

"With the way my hair is perfect all the time?" I cocked one eyebrow.

"Well, ok, yeah, whatever." Steve said.

"I… better go home." Johnny stood up.

Everyone blocked his way out of our house.

"No, you're going to stay here." Darry sounded WAY too strict.


	9. Trouble

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

VIII. TROUBLE!

Johnny gave up. He decided it wasn't worth arguing, and I think that he was actually relieved that they wouldn't let him leave. I knew he didn't want to go back there. He wouldn't, either, if he had another home to run to. I knew that this would be a great place for him, after all, Johnny already felt like a member of the family, but, luckily, not like he was another brother to me, if you understand…

"Um, Dar, one small problem," I said, "Where's he going to sleep?" I was praying that Darry would not say that couch; after all, that's most likely what he slept on at his own house. Johnny looked from all my brothers to me, and back to Darry.

Darry thought for a moment, and then went to his room. The gang left, probably to go get drunk and pick up some random chick on the road. Soda and Pony when to the TV and glued themselves to it. I led Johnny to my room to talk and be alone.

Johnny and I sat on my bed and talked for hours! We talked about my relationship with my brothers, his relationship with his parents, and my parents, and my thoughts on their death. Johnny freaked out a few times because when he started to talk about Mom and Dad, I started to cry and couldn't stop. We talked about anything that popped into either of our heads. It didn't matter what the subject was; we talked about it. He talked to me more that afternoon then I have ever seen him talk in his whole life.

Darry came in a few hours later and told Johnny that he could either sleep in my room (and kick me out onto the couch) or sleep on the couch tonight.

"I'll sleep on the couch," Johnny said, getting up. I stood up next to him.

"No, I'll sleep on the couch, after all, you're our guest, and I don't wanna be rude." I said very politely. I planned on sleeping close to Johnny anyways, so it wasn't all that big of a deal, I'd just be back in my room that night. To tell you the truth, I felt safer with Johnny than any of my brothers.

Johnny knew I was up to something, so he said, "Ok, I'll sleep in here, I guess." I smiled, I wanted to make him feel welcomed and loved, unlike (from what he's told me) when he's at home.

I grabbed a pillow and headed for the living room. After awhile, I heard Darry snoring, and I knew that it'd be safe to go back into my room to sleep on the floor.

When I walked in, Johnny looked like he was expecting me.

"Thought you'd be back," he smirked.

"Thought you'd be asleep," I shot back.

"Nope, just waitin' for you," he said.

I laid out some blankets on the floor on the right side of my bed and sat down close to the bed. Johnny got out of my bed and walked up next to me and sat there with his arm around me.

"Heard 'bout 'other night." He told me.

"Figures, Darry told ya, huh?"

"Nope, Pony," that shocked me more than if Darry drank that coke, even after I told him it was spiked.

"Pony?" I asked.

"Yep, said Darry told him the whole story, said it freaked out all three of 'em when you screamed and wouldn't wake up. Then screamed out again, even after they woke you up." He looked concerned.

I looked him straight in the eyes, "Johnny?" Johnny lied down with his hand behind his head. He closed his eyes "Hmm?"

"Is that why you waited for me, knowing that I'd be back? Is that why you decided to sleep down here with me, instead of on my bed?" I needed to know, I needed to hear the answer that I was dying to know.

Johnny cocked one eyebrow, then sat up. "Why do you ask that? You should know the answer by now," he looked really concerned now.

"I'm just… curious, and I wanna hear it out of your mouth."

"Well, yes, no" he said.

"Huh?"

"I stayed up knowing that you'd be back because I knew that you'd want to be close to someone you felt safe by, so they could wake you up if you had another episode like last night. I decided to sleep next to you down here instead of in your bed, because I need you to know that I'd do anything for, that my love for you is deeper than the oceans, and that I would walk through fire to get you to understand that. This is just one sacrifice that I'm making to make sure that you know that, you DO know that, Danielle Carnelian Curtis, don't you?" he looked deep into my bright blue, teary eyes, and found the answer. He placed his left hand on my right cheek and wiped away the tears. "I love you so much, Danielle, too much to express myself in words."

"I love you too, Johnny, I love you too," I whispered between sobs. That speech touched me, and touched me deeply. I knew he meant it, he never said anything that he didn't mean (unless he was joking, but he wasn't joking, trust me, he confirmed that, but I can't tell you what happens, that'll spoil it!).

Johnny pulled me into a deep, long, and meaningful kiss that I only deepened. When we parted, Johnny lied down, and I put my head on his chest and fell asleep in Johnny's arms.

I woke up with the sun shining through my windows. I groaned; I wasn't a morning person.

"Morning, sunshine," Johnny whispered.

"Shut-up." I grumbled. I snuggled closer to him trying to block out the sun so I could go back to sleep.

"Do you think that I'm going to let you snuggle up to me after what you just told me to do?" he mocked.

"Hmm…yes" I announced.

"Well, do you know what I say to that?" he questioned me.

"Mmm…no" I answered.

"Well I say, get up," he sat up abruptly, knocking me off him.

"Oh, crap," I said getting up, and rubbing my head, "Crap, I hate that bed!" I had hit my head on the bed when Johnny at up.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Ya, I'm fine." I said, throwing a pillow at his head.

"Oph!"

I ducked as a flying pillow headed my way. The pillow missed me, but hit a lamp. The lamp fell to the floor, and shattered.

"What on earth!?" screamed Darry.

"Oh, shoot…" I was dead afraid of what Darry would say when he found Johnny and I in the same room with a mess of blankets on my floor.

"Oops…" Johnny muttered.

Darry opened my door to find Johnny and I looking like a mess, a broken lamp on the floor, and a mess of blankets right next to the bed. Darry looked around the room, turned around, shut the door for a minute, and then walked back in as if he thought that if he did that, then it would have never happened!

"I don't want to know..." he said, and walked out, shutting the door behind him.

"Oh, man! What's he going to do to me?" I asked out loud.

"I think your brother's really mad." Johnny looked horrified.

"If he was, he would have yelled at me right then and there," I told him. Johnny went from looking horrified, to looking like I sentenced him to death row again. I laughed. It wasn't that it was funny that Johnny was scared to death of Darrel, but the look he gave me!

Johnny took that as an advantage, he threw yet another pillow at me. This time, it actually hit me.

"OW!" I cried. It didn't hurt, but I liked to tease Johnny.

"Oh, be quiet! That didn't hurt!" Johnny acted like he was annoyed. Man, that boy can act!

I started to fake-cry, and said, "You hurt me, and you don't care!"

Johnny laughed at me for that.

"I'm sorry! I'll make it up to you," he told me.

I immediately perked up and said, "Really? How?" I asked enthusiastically. I couldn't play the game anymore; I started to laugh my head off. I fell to my knees, because I couldn't breath. The look that Johnny gave me was just too funny! I laughed even harder. I started to gasp for breath and giggle at the same time.

"DANIELLE!" I heard Darry scream.

"Oh, crap, Dar's mad now!" I said.

Johnny looked scared again, but he helped me up, and walked me into the kitchen. Johnny had his left arm around my waste, and I was petrified.

"Danie, do I want to know what happened last night? Why were you in your room when you told me that you'd sleep in the living room?" he asked me surprisingly calm.

"Nothing happened, Darry, I swear! I went back into my room because…" I couldn't bring myself to tell Darry that I felt safer with Johnny then I did with my three brothers.

"She came back in to get a pillow, but I insisted she stay, so that she would be… more comfortable, I told her I'd sleep on the floor, but she insisted that she sleep on the floor. Nothing happened, sir, nothing." It didn't take a rocket scientist to tell ya that Johnny was scared to death of Darry.

"Is that what happened, Danielle? Tell me the truth, I won't be nice if I find out that you're lying to me!" Darry said sternly. I was scared for Johnny's sake, but I knew that I shouldn't lie, but I also didn't want Johnny get into trouble with my brother, after all, he's been through enough. I nodded. 'He only did it to protect me. He only did it because he knew that the truth wouldn't be believable that nothing happened. Even though nothing did happen.' I kept telling myself. After all, Johnny only tweaked it to make it more believable.

"OK, get something to eat," Darry said. Before Darry left to wake up Soda and Pony (how they didn't wake up with all that commotion is beyond me), he messed up Johnny's hair and patted him on the back to tell him that he wasn't in trouble.

"Well, that didn't go too bad," I said.

"Oh, sure, maybe not for you!" Johnny still looked horrified.

"Sorry I almost got you into trouble with Dar, John." I really was sorry, it was my fault, not his.

"No, it's ok, really!"

Pony and Soda came running into the room, smirking.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing," Soda said.

"SUUURE," Johnny and I said simultaneously.

"What? We didn't do anything" Pony wasn't all the convincing.


	10. Let's Walk

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

IX. Let's Walk

Darry walked into the room a few minutes later soaking wet. He was smiling, but he looked shock.

"They wouldn't tell us, and I'm not sure I want to know now… What happened, exactly?" I asked my oldest brother.

"They dumped a bucket of water on me when I walked in," Darry told us. "I didn't need a shower, I took one earlier, guys!"

"Soda and Pony? Dumped a bucket of water on you?" Johnny asked, stunned.

"Yep," Pony said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Cause," Soda shrugged, "It was fun."

"And cold…" Darry remarked.

Everyone snickered.

"Any one still alive in here?" Two-bit walked in.

"Nope! We're all dead!" I screamed.

"Good, then I won't be killed if I tell y'all that Johnny doesn't deserve Danielle! Baby, I deserve her!" Two-bit was obviously playing with Johnny, but I decided to play along, Johnny didn't seem to notice that it was only a joke.

"Well, then I'll just have to dump him, won't I?"

"Yep, baby, you will,"

Johnny was looking un-welcomed, and I felt guilty. "Johnny, it's a joke, we aren't serious. Johnnycake, I'd never leave you!" I told him.

"Ya, Johnny, I was only messin' with ya." Two-bit said.

"Oh, ha-ha, very funny, never do that again." He sounded really serious.

"OK, I won't, promise." I reassured him.

"Thanks."

Steve walked in at that moment and without saying a word, grabbed the chocolate cake.

"Don't you have any other place to get chocolate cake, Steve? Or is this the only place that you can spike it and not get into trouble?" I smirked at him. Darry laughed, and everyone else looked confused. "Steve spiked a coke that he gave to Darry the other day, it's nothing," I explained.

"Do you honestly think that he would have drank that?" Soda said.

"Well, had Danie not told him…" Steve said in his defense.

Pony left at that point to go upstairs to his room. Darry chuckled, then looked at the clock.

"Shi… Danie, Soda, I'm late; I've got to go, clean up the house, will you? And make sure Pony doesn't run off, I don't trust that the Soc's will stay out of our territory, got it?" just like Darry, barking out orders.

"Yes, sir, now get going!" I pushed him out the door.

"Ha-ha, I better get to work too, Steve, come on! Let's get a move on!" Soda yelled.

"Can I come visit later? Maybe you can buy me a soda, Mountain Dew," I teased Soda. Mountain Dew is a nickname I gave him a while ago. I don't know why, either, maybe it's because he's always hyper and happy, and well, you all know what happens to people when they have Mountain Dew!

"Ya, sure, come on over around noon, and watch out for Johnny, will ya, I don't want him going back to that house of his, ok?" he whispered the last part in my ear so Johnny wouldn't hear him.

"I will, don't worry," I reassured him.

"That's my girl," Soda said, "Now, were the hell his Steve? STEVE! We've gotta get a move on! We're gonna be late!"

"OK! I'm coming!" Steve screamed from the kitchen. Steve walked out with a beer bottle in one hand a piece of chocolate cake in the other. Soda and Steve left followed by Darry. On his way out, Darry patted me on the shoulder.

"So, what are we gonna do today, Johnny?" I asked, already feeling bored.

"I don't know… wanna go for a walk in the park?" he asked.

I thought about it for a moment. "Sure, Hey PONY! We're going for a walk, come with us, we'll need your help incase any Soc's come along!" I yelled for him to come down.

"Yeah, ok, be right there!" he screamed back.

We walked to the park in peace, and Johnny and Pony were talking about something that had to do with the Soc who beat me up, but I wasn't paying any attention, I was looking to make sure that no one jumped us, I didn't want that to happen.


	11. The Park

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

X. The Park

"Isn't that right, Danie? Danie?" I heard Pony say.

"Huh? What?" I asked, coming out of La-La Land.

"Isn't it right that Soda would never let anyone hurt you?"

"Oh, ya, that's right. Never!" I said.

"Oh, crap, well, too bad he ain't here right now, don't look behind us" Johnny said.

"Too late. Danie, is that the guy who hit you?" Pony asked.

"HmmHmm…" I said, terrified. I walked into Johnny's arms and stayed as close as I could to him. Johnny protectively held me close to him. All three of us could tell that they were drunk.

"Well, well, well, isn't it a small world?" he said as he came up to us.

"Stay back, or I'll… I'll hurt you if you touch her!" Pony said. I love Ponyboy, but he's no match against a football player. Now if Darry were there, there'd be a fair fight.

"Oh? And how do you plan on that, you little shit?" he asked him. No one calls my brother a "little shit". I lost it.

"Don't you call him that!" I screamed at the Soc.

"Danie!" Johnny hissed in my ear, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Saving my brother's life!" I hissed right back.

"And who's going to stop me? Hmm? You? HA! That's unthinkable! A girl! HA!" I had enough; he already insulted my brother, now he was calling me a girl! And saying that I was weak!

I broke out of Johnny's arms and punched the guy in the left eye, "How does that feel? Hmm? That's how I felt!" Then I kicked him in the shin, making him holler out in pain. Five more guys came running up to him and grabbed me, pinning me to the ground. One guy brought out a switchblade knife. Johnny and Pony came running up to me, but one Soc grabbed Johnny and pinned him down next to me, and another one grabbed Ponyboy and started to drown him in the fountain. **(A/N – they walked to the fountain were Johnny stabbed Bob) **It took three of the Socs to get Pony to go under the water for even a second. He was a good fighter, and knew how to struggle against the odds. Johnny's captors left him, and mine left me to go help the other three, and Johnny brought out his switchblade.

"Johnny, no!" I tried to stop him.

"I have to, it's either this, or we watch your brother die! What do you want?" he asked me.

"Go," I said.

Johnny ran off after them, stabbing one in the gut on accident when he turned to face Johnny. The other four ran off. When Pony came back up from the water, I ran to his side.

"PONY!" I screamed.

"I'm fine, what the heck happened?" Pony asked. We both looked at Johnny who was staring at the boy on the ground, and rocking back and forth. "Johnny?"

"I… I… I killed him! I didn't mean to!" Johnny said.

I sat down next to Johnny and stared at the bloody body as well, "Johnny…"


	12. Johnny's Choice

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

XI Johnny's Choice

"We know you didn't mean to, John, it's ok, it was self defense!" Pony to reason with himself, not Johnny.

"No, it's not ok! I killed someone! They'll be after me!" Johnny sobbed into his hands. 'Crap, what can I say to calm him down?' I thought.

I locked him a hug. "What do you want to do?" I asked him, knowing the answer.

"I want you go home and be safe, I'm running away." He announced.

"NO!" I couldn't believe my ears; "I'm staying with you, whatever your choice is!"

"Danie," Pony said, "You didn't do anything! Please, listen to Johnny, please, go home!" Pony pleaded with me.

"No! I'm staying with you two! You can't leave me alone!" I couldn't believe I had just said that!

"You won't be alone! Darry, Dally, Soda, Steve, and Two-bit will be with you! And Pony," Johnny stated firmly.

"I'm going with you, and you know you can't get rid of me, Johnny," said Pony. Johnny nodded, not arguing.

"Yes, I know that, but, Johnny, if you leave, I don't know when I'll see you again! And Pony, I've always been dependent on you to be the first one in my room when I screamed because I saw something that wasn't there!" I said, "Johnny, Pony, you two aren't going anywhere without me!" I told them. Johnny and Pony exchanged looks.

"Alright, there's no use fightin' with ya. Come on," Pony finally said.

"So… where are we going?" I asked as we got up.

"Dally should be able to help, I think he's at Buck Merlin's…" I didn't let Johnny finish.

"No! We are NOT going to that place! Darry told us to never go near there, Pony. And you know dang well that I'm not about to get into more trouble!"

"Do you just wanna go home and keep your mouth shut tight, or do you wanna come with us?" Pony should go into law…

I fumed for a moment and finally stated, "Alright! I'll go with you…"

"Good." Pony really SHOULD go into law!

We walked to Buck's house, it was early, and no parties were going on, but Dally was there anyways. We walked up to the door and knocked.

Buck opened the door and looked at all of us. "What do you want? The party ain't for hours!" was what he said.

"We need to see Dally!" Johnny informed him.

"Why?" Buck's so easily confused! **(A/N – HAHA!)**

"Just tell him that Little Red Riding Hood's here to talk to him!" I said exasperated at him. Like I said, he's really confused! But he left anyways.

A minute later, I heard Dally scream, then the door flew open, and Dally locked me into a bear hug. **(A/N – the phrase "Little Red Riding Hood's here to talk to you" is something that I came up with. It's a phrase that in my mind, Dally gave to Danie in case she was ever in trouble.) **

After Dally let me go, he said, "The hell? What's wrong? When Buck came in and told me what you said, I thought he was jokin' me! I nearly strangled him! What happened?" he asked again.

"Johnny killed the Soc that punched me!"

"Johnny, you killed someone? Good for you!" was Dally's response.


	13. Runaways

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

XII. Runaways

Pony, why are you so wet?" asked Dally.

"They tried to drown me!"

"OK, get in here," Dally led us to an upstairs bedroom and told us to take a freight train to Windrixvile, and he'd come get us when the coast was clear.

"And what are we suppose to do for who knows how long?" I asked.

"Stay in that church!" Dally commanded.

"Crap…I hate staying in one place for more than an hour," I mumbled under my breath.

"Would you rather go home?" Dally asked me in the same tone as Pony.

"Why do you boys always team up against me?!" I asked.

"Danie, it's ok, just chill," Johnny whispered. I shut up.

"Good, here's 50 and," he held out the money and a heater **(A/N – for all you who don't know, a heater's a hand gun)** "Johnny, don't point that thing at me! It's loaded!"

Johnny had taken the gun out of Dally's hand and had accidentally pointed it at Dally's head.

I grabbed the money and stared at him.

"Look, I'm in no hurry to tell Darry about this and get my head kicked in," Dally looked straight at me.

"So don't tell him!" Pony said. I knew that Pony and Darry's relationship wasn't the best in the world, but I thought that Pony would have been more worried about how much Darry'll be scared for us!

"Alright, get outta here!" Dally pushed us out the door.

After we hoped on the train, Pony fell asleep.

"You scared?" Johnny asked me.

"Ya, a little," I admitted.

"Is something up with Darry and Pony?" Johnny asked out of the blue.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, their relationship ain't the best in the world, Darry seems to either be screamin' at Pony, or worrin' so much that he won't even talk to him!" I explained, "I know that I'm the youngest of all four of us, but Darry seems more worried about Pony. Dar is always tellin' him to use his head. I was shocked when Darry didn't tell me to start usin' my head after that black eye."

"At lease you two have some one to care about you." Johnny said, looking at his feet.

"Jonathan Cade! I care about you! Two-Bit, Steve, Darry, Soda and Pony care about you. And hell! Even Dally cares about you! Johnny, we all care about you! I realize that you want your parents to care more, but at least you've got some! We both have our problems, but that doesn't mean that no one cares!" I knew that sounded way stricter than what I meant it to.

"I know, it's just…" Johnny said.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean that to sound so…bitchy…" I jumped into apologizing.

"No, it's ok, really, you told me just what I needed to hear, thank you."

I was dumbstruck when Johnny looked up and gave me a real, genuine smile.

"Here's our stop," he said. I looked over to the snoring Pony.

"Pony, wake up!" I said and nudged him with my foot.

"Huh?"

"Our stop. Jump." I said.

After we jumped off the train, I looked up at the hill where the church laid.

"Wow, that's a big hill," I said.

Johnny and Pony nodded.

"We better get supplies," Johnny said, looking around.


	14. Bologna

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

XIII. Bologna

"Can't we do that in the morning?" I asked.

"Yeah, Johnny, let's just get settled in first," Pony reasoned with him. Johnny looked around uncomfortably.

"Oh, alright, I guess it can wait," Johnny obviously didn't like the idea, but he went along with it.

We walked up the hill to the church and walked in. Pony fell on the floor and started to snore. I felt like I wanted to kick him just to shut him up. I looked at Johnny, longing to kick my older brother, but Johnny just smiled at me.

"You better get some sleep, I'll be getting up early to get some food." Johnny motioned to the hard stone floor.

"Ok," I was too tired to put up an argument that I WASN'T tired, but I knew that Johnny wouldn't have bought it. I yawned and sat down, pulling Johnny with me. Johnny wrapped his arms around me and pulled me down into a lying position. I fell asleep in the comfort and security of Johnny's arms. _I am the luckiest girl alive! _I thought to myself before I fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning when Johnny tried to move me so he could get up.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you," he whispered.

"'S ok, why are you up so early?"

"We need food, I'm going to get some. You are staying here, don't even think about arguing, Dan, you're staying."

That last statement was needed, because I was about to say that I wanted to go with him and that he couldn't tell me what to do, then I realized that as long as we were there, he would be the boss of me, he was the oldest.

I let Johnny leave and fell back asleep.

I'm guessing Pony woke up about a half hour later, because he was shaking me violently.

"Where's Johnny?" he asked me, with a hint of worry in his voice, when I looked up at him.

"He went to get food," I told him. "Now let me go back to sleep,"

"Oh, ok, sure," was all I heard out of Pony for the rest of the morning.

I slept for what I'm guessing was an hour before getting up and walking out of the church to get some water to wash my face.

Johnny came back later with a crate full of stuff.

I was daydreaming, so I didn't hear much of anything, but Johnny pulling things out and telling Pony what he got.

"…A blanket…" was all I heard him say.

"What?"

"What? What's wrong?" now it was Johnny's turn to be confused, looking at the stuff he just picked up out of the crate.

"'A blanket'? Why do we need a blanket?" I asked.

"Because the nights are cold," Johnny laughed at me.

"Oh, yeah…" I felt stupid.

Johnny went on taking things out of the crate, "I got a weeks worth of bologna," I looked up.

"One small problem," I said, "how are we gonna keep it from spoiling?"

"Uh…umm…well… oops?" Johnny tried to look innocent.

"One other, erm, large problem," Pony spoke up, "She's allergic to bologna" he pointed at me.

I looked at the ground. I didn't want to tell Johnny that because then HE'D be worried about me, as well!

"Danie, I'm sorry. I wish I had known that. Why didn't you tell me before?" Johnny asked.

"It was never of any importance?" I tried to get away with looking innocent, too.

Johnny and Pony just exchanged looks.


	15. My Time

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

XIV. My Time

Friday, June 17, 1966

Time I'm starting to think about going back,

To where everything isn't so black.

This place is so strange to me

I seem to agree,

With you it doesn't seem so bad.

It is a precious thing, time.

I start to think of it as a wind-chime.

It always blows in the wind,

Making everyone grin.

Yet if dropped on the ground,

It always broke, I found.

Time is the same concept,

Hung carefully is where it must be kept.

I'm starting to think about going back,

To where everything isn't so black.

Dear Diary,

Today was boring! I had nothing to do! Why can't my life be like that of a bird? Always roaming wherever it pleases, never having to worry about a single soul tormenting and torturing you! I know that whatever pain I might feel when it comes to the Socs beating me up will never be as bad as Johnny's parents beating him, but still! It's the same concept, right? We are still being mistreated!

Today I found a slight resemblance between The Lord of the Rings by Professor J.R.R. Tolkien and our life. Tolkien's character Faramir was always abused by his father, and once was told by his own father that he wanted Faramir dead. And Faramir's father nearly burned him alive! But then, Faramir found his one true love in the eyes of the shield maiden of Rohan, Eowyn, and they married. They had a wonderful life together!

Now, the resemblance between that and our life, you ask? Well, Johnny's parents abuse him, right? And Johnny just told me earlier today, around mid morning, I would guess, that when his father shot him the day he came over in pain, he father told him that … o good glory! His father said he wanted Johnny dead! He said that right to Johnny's face! I knew that there was more to the story than what Johnny was tell us, but I couldn't figure out what, now I know, and wish that I hadn't heard it. And his father would have killed him, had it not been for the phone ringing, that's when Johnny made a run for it. And another thing, Johnny found his true love, and so have I, we found it in each other. We have been together for a little over two years now, and Johnny has finally been able to open up about his home life to me. And each day I seem to find a little bit more relation to LOTR's Faramir and my own Johnny.

If there was one thing that I could do to make Johnny safe and take him away from his parents so they never get their hands on him again, I'd do it in a heart beat! I just wish there was…

Oh, diary! I need help! I'm loosing strength! I can't keep this up! I haven't eaten anything in the past 5 days! What will I tell Darry when we go back? That I'm fine, I jut haven't eaten since we left? Glory! What am I going to do? I feel faint; I'm going to go now.

With love,

Danielle Carnelian Curtis


	16. Barbeque and Fire

I Grew Up Around Boys XV

I Grew Up Around Boys

XV. Barbeque and Fire

The next week went by kinda fast… too fast. I couldn't eat anything, so I guessed I lost a lot of weight. I've always been really thin, so it probably wasn't a good thing that I didn't eat. And I slept a lot, too. I had no strength because of the not eating factor…

The only thing I can remember about that week in the church (except the 1st and last day, of course!) was that Pony owed Johnny 20 cigarettes (why they smoke is beyond me).

The last day, I remember waking up with Dally staring at me, smirking.

k are you smirking at?" I asked.

"Nothin, just," Dally tried to find the words in his head – wow! that was rare! "Darry's gonna kill you if he finds out that you were sleeping with Johnny!"

"It was nothing! My gosh! We just slept! We didn't do a THING! My goodness! Why do you guys always team up against me?" I nearly screamed.

Pony and Johnny (who was beat red from embarrassment that Dally caught him with me in his arms, sleeping) backed into a corner. They knew not to mess with me, if only Dallas would learn!

"Ok, I'm sorry," Dally said, putting his hands in the air, as if surrendering. My mouth dropped. It was WAY unlike Dally to be doing these things – 1st; he was so worried about my safety that he tried to knock out my brother! Next, he looked guilty and regretful! 3rd, he showed that he was worried when I told him the story, and now he was actually surrendering to me, and said 'sorry'! I was stunned speechless.

Dally looked me over. "You're so thin!" was his remark.

"I've always been thin!" I said, getting up off the bench that I was sitting on.

"Yeah, but you're thinner than usual, what have you been eating?"

"Nothing," I said under my breath. As I stood up, the room started to spin and slowly blacken. I reached out to steady myself, but couldn't find anything to grab onto. I think I passed out, because the next thing I saw was Dally standing over me. Seeing that all the color drained out of Dal's face, I knew he had heard me and figured out the reason for my sudden collapsing. Quickly I added to my previous story, "Johnny bought a week's worth of bologna, and I'm allergic…"

Johnny immediately looked guilty, and I felt bad for naming him, but I also knew that Dally couldn't be mad at Johnny; he had no idea that I was allergic!

"Alright, well, come on, we'll get you something that you can eat. And Dan," I looked up at him, "Soda said to give you this," he held out a letter.

"How'd he know we were here?" Pony asked.

"Told him I didn't know anything, didn't believe me, said to give it to Danie, and then told me not to play dumb" Dally shrugged.

"Because you don't have to play," I said as I rolled my eyes and opened the letter.

"Hey Danie, why did you and Pony go with Johnny? You didn't do anything! You two are innocent! You all are! Please, babe, come home! You and Pony and Johnny, come home! We miss you something awful! Please, tell Johnny to turn himself in, and come home!

Your loving brother,

Sodapop Curtis"

"We need to go back," I announced.

"The hell you're not!" Dally shouted back. "Do you realize Two-Bit wanted to go after you three? You're stayin' put until all this is settled!"

"NO! Pony, Johnny, you two need to go back and turn yourselves in! You have a good shot of being let off easy! And, Pony, you didn't even DO anything! Please," I tried my hardest to cry; I knew that they'd give in if I could cry, "Let's just go home!" It worked! I started to cry.

"Oh, please, don't cry, Danie! We'll go back, ok? Please, stop crying!" Pony pleaded with me.

Dally sighed, "Ok, we can go back, just stop crying! I hate it when girls cry," he muttered.

I stopped suddenly, scarring Pony and making Johnny laugh his head off; he knew what I was up to. Dally turned and looked at Pony and Johnny with a confused look on his face.

"Alright, let's go get some food," Dally finally said.

We got into the car and drove to the Dairy Queen. Dally ordered all of us BBQ sandwiches and cokes. I didn't have a very big appetite, I mean, let's face it, if you don't eat for a week, would you REALY have a large appetite? I didn't think so! But my eyes were bigger than my stomach. I took the sandwich greedily and took a LARGE bite and immediately felt sick. I leaned over the side of the car and puked.

"Are you, um… what's the word? Pexic?" Dally asked me.

I spat on the ground to get the nasty taste out, and then said, "It's _**Anor**_exic, Dal, and if I was anything, it'd be bulimic. And no, I'm not. I just don't feel like eating a whole lot right now. After all, I haven't eaten in a week! Give me a break!"

"All right, but Darry'll be worried about you eating, then ask me about it," Dally smirked.

"Better not tell him you think I'm anorexic or bulimic, I'll kill you!" I said, giving him a death glare.

"How? You can barely eat!" Dally laughed at me. He started the engine and started to drive off.

to kill you." I said after a while, "What's that?" I pointed to the sky. Black smoke was rising above the trees.

"I don't know," Pony said, mesmerized.

We pulled up to the church to get our stuff and the church was on fire!

"Crap!" I screamed.

Pony jumped out of the car and froze. I know he heard little kids screaming from inside the church.

Pony ran into the church with me hot on his heals.

"What do you three think you are doing?" I heard Dally scream. I looked behind me to find Johnny chasing after me.

"Johnny, yo-" I was cut short.

"No, you are not going in there!" he scared me with how strict he was being, but I kept going. "Danielle!" I turned around to see Johnny looking around with a look that plainly said, "What do I do now?" apparently, Johnny decided to come, because he came in, put his arm around me, and said "Your not going anywhere with out me."

I nodded, still a little afraid of him, and kept walking on, following my brother.

We found the kids in the back of the flaming church. I picked one up and set them outside the window, and then I heard a small scream from my brother and turned around to find that a little kid had bitten him. I laughed, I couldn't help it!

After all the kids were outside, Pony climbed out of the window, followed by Johnny. I was about to climb out, when a flaming pillar fell on me. I wasn't knocked out, yet. I heard a noise behind me, and tried to look, but I couldn't move.

"Danie, hold on, we'll get you outta here," It was Dally.

"Dally! Help!" I screamed.

"Just hold on, we'll get you out, don't worry!" this time it was Johnny.

"Johnny! What-" the wind was knocked out of me as another log fell on top of me.

"Shit" I heard Dally say. I blacked out.


	17. What Happened?

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

XVI. What Happened?

The next thing I was aware of was voices.

"I don't know…" one of them said. I didn't recognize the voice, it was male, but I still didn't recognize it.

"But she… will she live?' I heard another voice say. It was Darry, and he sounded worried. Who was this "she" he was talking about? Why was Darry so worried about her? Thoughts rushed through my head; did he have a girlfriend? A fiancé that I knew nothing about? My heart stopped for a moment as a realization dawned on me; the "she" they were talking about was me. I opened my eyes and started to cough uncontrollably.

I coughed for about three minutes, and then looked at Darry who looked horrified. "It hurts," I said hoarsely.

"I know, babe, I know," he said, stroking my hair.

"Where's Johnny and Pony and Dally?" I asked.

"Huh? We're right here" I heard Pony and Dally.

"Johnny? Oh glory, where's Johnny?" I looked around for an answer. Darry didn't answer, Pony looked at the ground, Dally studied the ceiling, and Soda (yes Soda was there too) was looking at Darry. "What? What happened to Johnny?" I was getting scared; why wouldn't they tell my?

"Well, Johnny, he, umm… he's…" Darry tried to find the words, but they wouldn't come to him.

"The doctors don't think he'll live!" Dally blurted out.

"Wha… Wha…" the next thing I remember was my head hitting the pillow.

(A/N DUN-DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUN!)

"Glory! Why did you tell her?"

"Because she ASKED, Dar! She has a right to know where the love of her life is!"

"Yes, true, but she was so weak! So fragile! Why did you tell her when she JUST WOKE UP?"

"She ASKED! And, plus, she would have found out, anyway! The doctors or nurses would have told her sooner or later!"

"Will you two keep it down, don't wake her up!"

"Yes, later, as in, when she's strong enough to know!"

"But I AM strong enough to know!" I burst out, opening my eyes

"See what you did?" I heard Soda say.

"What?" everyone else turned to me. I saw that everyone except Dally and Soda were looking at me wide-eyed. Soda knew I was awake, and Dally knew I'd have heard it all.

"I was strong enough to know, I was just shocked, that's all!"

"Look, Johnny's not expected to live. After me and Johnny ran into that church to get you out, after I got you and myself out, the church's roof fell in on him. They don't think he's gonna live to see tonight. I'm sorry." Dally was genuinely sorry for something, another shocker! What was with him lately? He was definitely scaring me.

I was on the verge of tears again. "Glory… this is… is all my fault!"

"No it ain't!" Soda almost screamed, "It's no where close to being your fault! Babe, you saved a bunch of little kids, that took guts, and Johnny saved your life! If he dies, he'll die a hero! Don't blame yourself! Please," Soda was on the verge of tears, too, I could tell. It didn't escape my knowledge that he used the word "if" in instead of "when" to try and cheer me up.

"Babe, look, Soda's right…" I started to stand up, "what do you think you're doing? Lay back down this instant! You broke 3 of your ribs!" I didn't care what Darry was saying. I had to see Johnny. I had to see him, one last time; I needed to see him again before he died, if he was going to.

"You can't stop me! If Johnny's going to die, I need to see him before then. Don't even try to stop me, because you won't be able to." I said getting up.

Everyone, even Darry, got out of my way, and Pony and Soda helped me up. I tried to ignore the pain in my ribs. I walked to the door and asked "Which way?"

Everyone pointed to the right and said "Five doors thata-way!"

I walked out and counted five doors to my right and opened the door.

Johnny was lying on a bed and looked (well, tried to look) my way. "What do you want now? Haven't you caused enough damage to me for one lifetime?" I knew that he thought I was one of his parents, but, I don't know, I just thought he meant me.

didn't mean to! I really didn't!" I sobbed then walked as fast as I could to his bedside.

"Danie?" he asked, "Oh glory! I didn't mean that, you know I didn't!"

"Oh, but Johnny, you're right! I have caused enough damage to you! If only I had list-" I was cut short.

"Danie," Johnny said, "remember when I said I'd walk through fire for you?" I nodded. "Well, didn't I just prove myself?" he smiled weakly, but I could see the pain in his eyes. I forced a laugh, and felt guilty again.

"Johnny," I said, fighting back the lump in my throat, "I… Johnny, I love you so much! I couldn't bare it if you died! I don't want you to die! Johnny…" I broke down and sobbed my heart out on the edge of Johnny's bed. Johnny tried to sit up, but couldn't, so he just rubbed my back from his lying position.

"Shh, it's ok, shh, don't cry, please, don't cry," I could tell through my tears that he was holding his back.

"No, it won't be ok, it's all my fault! Johnny, I don't want to lose you too! I've already lost my parents! Johnny, I can't lose you too! Please," I said.

"Danie," I looked up to see tears pouring down Johnny's face. "Danie, look, you mean too much to me for me to just give up the fight. I'm going to fight this until I win. Before you, if I had never met you, I don't know what I would have done. I'd have probably given up already, but not anymore. I have something to hold onto, I have something to fight for."

Silent tears still ran down my face, but for a different reason. I now knew what I wanted to know; I was –am– what kept –keeps– him alive, I was, no AM, the one he fights for.

"Dan, I first ran into that church for the kids, and to keep you away from harm. I went back because I knew you were hurt. Khandi, I couldn't bare having you hurt. I, no, Dally and I, we saved you because we didn't want you hurt. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if you got hurt." Johnny tried his best to smile, then told me to go back to my room, because I might get hurt more, and he already made it clear that he didn't want that.


	18. Johnny's Gonna Live!

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

XVII. Johnny's Gonna Live!

I got back to the room smiling slightly, silent tears still finding their way down my cheek. That made the gang worry about what happened.

"Danie?" Darry ask cautiously, "Danie, what happened?"

"Nothing," I replied in a distant voice. I climbed back into the bed and fell asleep.

I didn't dream of anything that night. When I woke up, I was shocked to find all of the gang's heads floating around me.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed. "Oh, glory! Scare me half to death, why don't you?" I just then realized that they had bodies attached to their heads. I hadn't meant to sound annoyed, it just scared me.

"Calm down, calm down, it's ok, we've been here since 11 and you haven't woken up, so, well, we didn't think that you'd be scared to see us…" Pony said.

Darry gave him a look that plainly said, 'You don't think AT ALL' Darry turned back to me and what I did next scared everyone, even me.

"Darrel Curtis Jr.! Why do you always make Pony feel like he can't do anything right? You can't change who he is! So just leave him alone, for God's sake!"

I was definitely fed up with Darry.

"Uhh… but… well… I mean…" Darry was stunned that he was just told off by his baby sister!

"Stop, ok? Will you and Pony just promise me that you will stop yelling at each other?" I was about to say more when the nurse walked in.

"Oh, you're awake! Johnny's been asking to see you," she said with a smile, "he's such a sweet boy, it's a shame that he's not going to … be able to … stay longer," I could tell she was trying to sound comforting and realistic, but she didn't know that Johnny wouldn't die, she didn't know him the way I did. She didn't know that Johnny wouldn't give up. She thought that he was going to die. She and the rest of the gang all thought that he would die. I couldn't believe it.

"You mean he made it through the night?" Darry asked. She nodded. "But you also mean that… Johnny's still not…" the nurse looked down at her shoes, and walked out.

"You all think that she's right, you all think that Johnny's going to die, don't you?" I asked. They all looked at me as if saying 'DUH!' "Well, he's not! He's going to fight, and knowing him, he'll win… I hope" I whispered the ending so only I could hear it, only Dally heard it as well.

"But, they said that it would be a miracle if he even lasted the night. Danie, I don't want you to get false hope, you've had enough of that, please, babe…" Pony spoke up.

"Yeah, Dan, don't get your hopes up, it won't end well," Two-bit, for once, said seriously.

"You don't get it! Johnny's going to fight because he…" I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell them what Johnny had told me, "Because he wants to see his parents pay for what they've done to him. He's fighting for that." Well, I didn't think it was very believable, but they bought it.

"What?" they all screamed.

"Ok, how can I put this so you nimrods will understand? Johnny's … going … to … L-I-V-E … LIVE!" I said, trying to figure out why that hadn't clicked yet.

"SWEET! Johnny's not gonna die!" Soda nearly screamed.

"Down, boy, down," I told him.

"But, Johnny ain't gonna die!" Steve said, excitedly.

"And no one's more excited about it than me, but still, down!"

The doctor walked in. "Hello, Danielle," I nodded to him, "Well, it seems that you're doing well, you should be able to leave by tonight. Oh, Johnny's been asking to see you," then he walked out.


	19. Doubts

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

XVIII. Doubts

"I'm going to go see Johnny now; I'll be back, bye!" I said, and walked out of the room.

I walked over to Johnny's bed and gave him a small hug and kissed him on the cheek.

"Hey, Khandi," he said, smiling slightly.

"The doctor AND nurse said you wanted to see me" I said, putting on a straight face, trying to look serious, "Is anything wrong?"

"Yeah, you look stupid when you try to look serious!" he laughed a bit but stopped and winced. "Nah, I just wanted to make sure you were still ok,"

"I'm fine, I get to go home today," I said, a little too unhappily.

"Great!" he said with another small smile, "I don't know when I get to go home. They still don't think I'll make it."

I was begging to wonder who was older, him or me. We could both act older than our own ages.

"Johnny, you'll make it, I promise, I know you will. You'd never leave me!" I said.

Johnny looked at me with those big, dark brown eyes of his, and I just melted. I sat down on the edge of his bed and brushed a few strands of his hair out of his face.

"Danie," he said, "Do you think that, when I get home, do you think that my parents will hate me even more?"

Dang it, did he have to ask me THAT question? "No, I think that… I think that they won't even notice you're home," I tried to be realistic and comforting at the same time.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," he said a bit sterner than what he had meant.

"You're right. I'm sorry, well, look, Johnny, I don't know what's going to happen when you get home, but if things get bad, you had better hightail it over to our house, got it?" I said.

"You know why I love you so much, Danielle?" he asked me.

"Because you can't help love, it just happens, even if you don't want it to?" I asked.

"Ha, no, it's because you can make me laugh when I want to cry, you can make life full of fun when I start to think that there's no hope, you can make me strong when I know that there's never a chance of surviving. You can do all of this and more. God knew what he was doing when he put you here, and you know that. You know that everything happens for a reason, and you're not afraid to tell others that. And you know how to put things in a perspective that others would have never thought. Danie, you have no idea how much more I love you for that."

I smiled. "Thanks, Johnny,"

"Danie, I don't want to go back to that Hell-house that my so called parents call a home." That was the first time in my life that I can remember Johnny cussing in front of me.

"Then don't." I stated simply.

The door opened and Darry walked in.

"Babe, we've got to go, I'm sorry. Hey Johnny, are you doing ok? They treating you good, kid?" Darry said.

Johnny nodded, "Ya, they're treating me ok,"

"Good," Darry nodded, "Come on, Danie, you can come and visit Johnny tomorrow," Darry put his hand on my shoulder. "Come on," he said again.

"Bye, Johnny, see you tomorrow," I kissed him, and then walked out, looking back one last time that day.

When we got home, the house was quiet. That was a major change.

Two-bit came running in and almost knocked me over. "Oh, sorry, kid," he said, and then messed up my hair. "Oh, I'm so sorry, please don't hit me," he said, then winced, remembering the time I hit Steve square in the face with a pillow because he did the same thing.

"I won't, just don't do it again," I said.

"Ok, I won't," he promised me, then went to watch Mickey Mouse again.


	20. Johnny Comes Home

I Grew Up Around Boys XX

I Grew Up Around Boys

XIX. Johnny Comes Home

It had been four months since that day in the hospital. Nothing really exciting happened during that time. With one of the members of the gang in the hospital, it wasn't at all fun. Especially for me. I went to visit Johnny every day during those two months. I kept telling Johnny that he'd get out soon, but we both knew that I was just trying to make small talk because I couldn't stand seeing Johnny in the hospital. Finally, one day, the doctor walked in and said "Jonathan Cade? You're free to go home today." Those words made my day.

Johnny didn't even bother going back to his house. He came over to ours instead. The second we walked in the doors, everyone jumped up and started to hug both of us. I don't know why they were hugging me, but, hey, it was all good!

"Oh, God, Johnny, I thought you'd never get out of that hospital!" Two-bit squealed, lifting Johnny off his feet and onto his shoulder.

"Two-Bit! Put me down!" Johnny screamed.

"Hmm… never heard you scream before." Two-bit remarked.

"Put him down, Keith" I said.

"You did not just call me Keith, did you?" he asked, setting Johnny down and going for me.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! NO! TWO-BIT! STOP! OH GOSH! TWO-BIT!" I screamed. Two-bit had begun to tickle me to death. "STOP! PLEASE!"

"Well, ok, since you said the magic word," he stopped tickling me, and I smacked him. "What was that for?" he asked.

"Because I felt like it," everyone in the room laughed. Hey, I can be funny if I want.

"Johnny, you ain't goin' back to that house of yours, are you?" Steve asked.

"No, I'm not" he said simply.

I grabbed Johnny's arm and led him my room. I wanted to be alone with him again; I liked that feeling.

"Danie, what are you doing?" Johnny asked me.

"I just wanted to talk to you alone. I don't like talking to you with all the gang there, it just… I don't know. I just don't feel right. I like the feeling of being alone. Don't worry, I'm not a psycho." I reassured him.

"I knew that already, I was just wondering why you chose your room, instead of, like, the kitchen, or something."

"What? A girl can't like to have the privacy of her bedroom?" I faked a pout.

"Nope," Johnny smirked.

"You dork!" I said, and playfully hit him on the arm.

"Hey, now, this is how that whole series of events started, and I don't feel like going through that again,"

"You're right, sorry," I said.

Johnny closed the space between us and kissed me.

The door to my room opened and I heard an audible gasp and I broke away from Johnny to see Pony blushing. I laughed like crazy.

"I'm sorry, I'm going to be going now," I stopped him.

"No, why'd you come in here?" I asked, as if that had never happened.

"Umm… just to see where you two ran off to… now I know, and I'll be leaving, bye" Pony ran out of my room and shut the door behind him.

I rolled my eyes.

"Think he was spying on us?" Johnny asked, putting his arms around my waist again.

"I have no clue," I admitted.

"Danie!" I heard Darry scream, then I heard the rest of the gang laughing their heads off, and I knew Pony told them. Again, I rolled my eyes.

"Well, get ready for the blows." I smirked. Johnny knew I was joking.

When I got to the kitchen I heard Steve singing another song that I had never heard before.

"SAVE A HOURSE! RIDE A COWBOY! EVERYBODY SAYS BUMBUM, SAVE A HOURSE, RIDE A COWBOY!"

"Steve, were do you get these songs from?" Two-bit asked.

"My head," I laughed.

"Danie, please, if you're going to make out with Johnny, do us the favor, and lock your door!" Darry said.

"Ok, will do," I said, then fake-dragged Johnny out of the room, but stopped and grabbed a piece of chocolate cake instead.

"And you always called me crazy for eating chocolate cake," Two-bit said.

"When did I do that?" I asked, confused.

"I… Ummm… don't know," Two-bit admitted.

I love how these guys make me laugh!


	21. Epilogue

I Grew Up Around Boys

I Grew Up Around Boys

Epilogue

I had just graduated from college and Johnny and I were still going steady. My brothers had decided to throw me a "surprise" party to celebrate, but Soda can't lie and ended up blabbing to me.

I came home to find, not only the gang and Tim's gang, but Cherry and Marcia too!

"Oh my gosh! Cherry, Marcia! Why are you here?" Cherry, Marcia, and I all went to the same college, and we became great friends, but I knew that my brother's didn't know that.

"What? Can't friends celebrate with friends?" Cherry asked.

"Of course they can, but I wasn't expecting you!"

"Soda didn't blab the WHOLE thing to you," Marcia said. Two-bit came out of the kitchen with his mouth full of chocolate cake (some things never change) and put his arm around Marcia.

"Marcia, Cherry, you dragged Two-Bit into this?" I asked, stunned.

"Well, it was my idea to call him and tell him that we were now friends, and he invited me," Marcia said.

"Then she called me, and invited me, and that's about all, but hey, let's get the party started!" Cherry said.

"WOOHOO!" screamed Steve.

I pulled Cherry aside, "Cherry, can I ask about you and…" I looked over to Dally.

Cherry gave a short giggle, "I could always change the subject at school, but I guess I can't escape you know, huh?" she asked. I shook my head, "well, ok, Dally … asked me out."

"What did you say?"

"What do you think?" she asked me.

"I think you said yes, but knowing you, you said no"

"Thanks!" Cherry punched me in the arm playfully. "I said yes, for your information, and how about you and Johnny?" she just HAD to change the subject.

"Still going good, but anyways, Cherry, be careful, he's not one to give up his reputation for a girl, just make sure you don't end up… like Soda's ex-girlfriend."

"DANIE! I can't believe you just brought up that freak!" Cherry nearly screamed.

"I'm just saying…"

"I know, and I won't, I promise! Don't worry about me, ok?"

"Alright, I won't, now, let's party!"

The party lasted until about midnight, and then everyone went home. Well, everyone who had a home, Johnny stayed at our house like he always used to. After everyone left, Johnny pulled me out into the backyard.

"Johnny? What?" I asked after I was outside.

Johnny looked really nervous. "Johnny, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, just… Nothing," was his answer.

"It's something, I haven't seen you this worried since I got stuck in that burning church." Johnny winced at the memory.

Johnny fidgeted with his jacket some more and then took both of my hands in his and got down on one knee. I gasped, knowing what was coming next. He took out a small box from his pants pocket and opened it, reveling a beautiful diamond ring. I put a hand up to my mouth to stifle a small yelp of joy. Time seemed to pass slowly as Johnny looked up at me with those big, dark, chocolate brown eyes of his.

"Danielle Carnelian Curtis, will you marry?" he asked, his voice shaking.

Tears were streaming down my face as I nodded. "Yes, oh, yes, Johnny!" I said and threw myself into his arms, crying with joy.


End file.
